Pastor's Blog

It's been a blast having the church full each day as we celebrate Vacation Bible School this week. And I've loved listening to conversations and how folks have been feeling about the assignment to pray for our enemies.

I thought I'd take a chance to be clarify a couple of things about loving and praying for our enemies.

We pray for our enemies not because praying for them will heal a broken relationship or instantly change the way we feel about them, or even change them to become more palatable. We love and pray for our enemies because Jesus told us to. If you're a parent who has ever said, "Because I told you so..." you should totally understand this. Jesus doesn't say that loving and praying for our enemies will solve all of our problems. He simply says that it makes us perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.

The point of any spiritual practice--prayer, scripture reading, fasting, meditation, writing, silence--is not to change us or to provide some sort of practical and tangible result. The point of any spiritual practice is to get us into the place where something can be done in us. It is the way that we invite the Holy Spirit in to work on us from the inside out. So don't expect something magical to happen. Just know that you are making yourself available for the Holy Spirit to work.

You might find that praying for your enemies provokes a loving action! I've heard one story already about how God put someone's enemy in their path and that person was guided by the Spirit to take a loving action in that moment. That story has inspired me personally to add to my prayer an action of love.

That God would come to work in our lives and in our hearts is a great mercy. We are not promised instant change or sudden transformation. We open ourselves because God has given us this great gift!

In the sermon several weeks ago I talked about how the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives makes us more like Jesus, and I promised that we would talk about real, practical ways that we allow the Holy Spirit to do that work.

Well, here we are. This summer we are focusing on building Christian character as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives to produce the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Each week as we talk about one of the fruits of the Spirit we are also going to talk about a particular spiritual practice that opens us up to the work of the Spirit as we become more like Jesus.

Yesterday the fruit was love (thank you, preschoolers, for your awesome representation of love!) and the practice was prayer. The scripture that we focused on was Matthew 5: 43-48 in which Jesus tells the people to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." There is a direct connection between loving our enemies and becoming perfect (or more like Jesus, or sanctified, or however else you think of it).

Our assignment yesterday was to think of someone that you don't like, or someone that you find very unlovable, and to pray for them. Here's the excerpt from my sermon:​

Right now I want you to think about a person or a group of people who you dislike. Someone who you let yourself indulge in disliking. The person that, when you’re at home alone and no one is looking, you practice telling off.

And I want you to pray for that person every day this week. Don’t pray for them to change or to go away or to be more likeable. Instead, pray for their well-being. Pray for their family. Thank God for creating them as beloved children and for Jesus’ willingness to die for them. Thank God that when Christ comes again you will be feasting with them at the heavenly banquet.

Make this prayer for your enemy part of your daily prayer life. And if you don’t already have a prayer life then this is where you’re going to start. Start of slowly if you like…five minutes each day praying for this person. If you’re a prayer journaler like me, use your prayer journal. If you’re a sit still and pray person, do it then. If you pray in the car, spend that time praying for that person. But before you do, ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Ask the Holy Spirit to soften your heart and to make you more able to love as Jesus loved. Ask the Holy Spirit to work in your life in this way.

I've already heard stories about how this assignment has challenged people, and how people have already--ALREADY!--had the chance to act in loving ways toward people that they'd rather not love.

Starting next Sunday there will be a box on the kneeling rail where you can share your stories all summer of how these practices have given the Holy Spirit room to work in your life. I will be the only one to look at them unless you give me permission to share. You can sign your story or keep it anonymous. If you give me permission to share it without your name attached, that's great. Or if you want to keep it only between me and you that's perfect, too.

I am trusting that as we practice these things together that we will hear stories of the Spirit working powerfully throughout the church. And what a glorious gift that will be!